A 53-year-old Staunton resident, who was found to be in possession of more than 600 images of child pornography, will spend nearly a decade in
prison on a pair of related charges after being sentenced Tuesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg.

Daniel Edward Walsh was indicted in June 2009 and charged with one count of receiving or attempting to receive one or more images of child pornography and one count of possessing or attempting to possess child pornography.

He pleaded guilty to both charges on October 23. On Tuesday, Walsh was sentenced to 108 months of federal incarceration and was also ordered to pay $1,250 in restitution and a $1,000 fine. The fine will be paid to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“The images possessed by this defendant depicted horrific acts of sexual abuse of very young children,” says U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy. “The trading of this disgusting and repulsive material is something that directly and severely damages the children whose images are disseminated. Every image of child pornography represents an abused child and a shattered life. Cases like this demonstrate that law enforcement is aggressively pursuing child pornography cases and will do everything possible to stop this form of abuse.”

According to a factual summary filed with the court at the time of Walsh’s guilty plea hearing, the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was using software that enabled it to locate computers distributing child pornography January 12, 2009. An ICAC investigator observed that a suspected video file of child pornography was available for
download from the defendant’s computer.

After securing a search warrant, investigators with the Staunton Police Department and the ICAC searched Walsh’s Staunton home on March 25, 2009 and seized and analyzed the defendant’s computer. It was determined that the defendant received child pornography by utilizing LimeWire
Peer-to-Peer software.

Analysis revealed hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on the defendant’s computer in a directory labeled “kiddy.” The child pornography included depictions of very young, prepubescent, children engaged in various sexual acts with adults.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Staunton Virginia Police Department and the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy S. Healey prosecuted the case for the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals Federal, state and
local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.